SL ties 'Dawgs; WMC cruises at Ludington

Wed, Aug 20, 2008    to del.icio.us

Spring Lake opened its season with a 1-1 tie at Grandville Tuesday.

The Lakers fell behind 1-0 when the Bulldogs scored off a corner kick late in the first half.

"We gave up a goal right before halftime, and the next 10 minutes after halftime, we played really flat," said Lakers' coach Jeremy Thelen. "We picked it up the last 30 minutes."

The Lakers scored the equalizer with less than 10 minutes to play as Kevin Boyer took a throw-in deep in Grandville's defensive end. The ball was played back to him, and he sent a cross to Michael Gagnon, who hit a one-touch into the corner of the goal for a 1-1 tie.

"We played well defensively. We were very organized in the back," Thelen said. "I was really pleased with our effort. Eren Sipahi and Chris Tilton played well on defense.

"This was a good start to our season. There are definitely things we can work on, and there were some things that we did well that we need to continue to do well."

The Lakers play their first home game Thursday against Reeths-Puffer.

JUNIOR VARSITY: Spring Lake scored a 4-1 victory over Grandville, with Aaron Stebbins, Alec Strahl, Michael Hankinson and Harry Kriger scoring goals for the Lakers.

WMC CRUSHES ORIOLES

Western Michigan Christian exploded for six first-half goals while holding Ludington scoreless en route to a 9-2 opening-season win Tuesday at the home of the Orioles.

The Warriors, 22-1 last year and Division 4 state champs, didn't waste any time lighting up the scoreboard. Junior Justin Baker took a pass from classmate Evan Bruinsma and deposited it in the net to open the scoring. Freshman John Waller then scored the first goal of his WMC career off an assist from Baker.

Senior Andrew Rop bounced a throw-in off the head of a Ludington defender for the third goal and Bruinsma took a pass from Chris Wisen and made it 4-0. Ryan Hoffer got a shoulder on a pass from Daniel Rosema and sent it into the twine and then Rosema found the net off an assist from Baker with seconds left in the first half.

Rosema scored two more times in the second half and Bruinsma added a penalty kick.

Rosema ended the night with a hat trick and an assist, Bruinsma had two goals and two assists, Waller a goal and an assist and Baker had a goal and two assists.

The Warriors out shot the Orioles 26-10.

"It was a good first start but showed a lot of work to still be done," coach David Hulings said. "Obviously, Ludington was not very strong, but we did some good things in the change of style of play. We have much work to do but we can build on this. Good play by Evan (Bruinsma), Dan (Rosema) and Justin (Baker). Case (Ryzebol) was solid in the back."

Junior Tyler Lane was in goal for WMC.

JUNIOR VARSITY: The Warriors shut out the Orioles 4-0 on a hat trick and an assist by freshman Matt Wisen. Jason Prince added a goal and two assists. Zack Buter recorded the shutout.